Rotary servo motors are widely known and used to provide rotary motion control for industrial machinery and other applications. A rotor rotates relative to a stator in response to control input commands from a motor drive. An output shaft of the servo motor is operably connected to the rotor to rotate therewith. The output shaft projects outwardly from or is otherwise accessible at the motor housing at a front end. An encoder is operatively associated with the output shaft of the motor at an opposite rear end of the motor housing and provides feedback to the motor drive as to the angular position of the output shaft and rotor such that rotation of the output shaft is further controlled in response to the feedback to obtain a precise desired angular position for the rotor and output shaft connected thereto. Servo motors often further include a holding brake assembly or parking brake assembly that is selectively applied after the rotor is stopped in the desired angular position to hold the output shaft and rotor in such desired angular position.
Over time, operation of the rotary servo motor results in wear on one or more of the brake assembly components. Routine maintenance and servicing can generally counteract the effects of wear and tear. However, identifying the root cause of maintenance issues (e.g., performing manual diagnostics) may be difficult and time-consuming, and precautionary replacement or repair of components on a set schedule can be inefficient.